--- title: "Side Effects" year: 2013 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/side-effects" fi1m_id: "side-effects" imdb_id: "tt2053463" tmdb_id: 109421 wikidata_id: "Q334763" fi1m_score: 70 critics_score: 71 critics_reviews: 15 published: "2026-09-09" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:53.605374+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Side Effects (2013) Directed by Steven Soderbergh · 1h 46m · MPA R · Thriller, Crime, Drama ## Identity Side Effects - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/side-effects - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** side-effects - **IMDb ID:** tt2053463 - **TMDB ID:** 109421 - **Wikidata ID:** Q334763 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2053463/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/109421, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q334763 **Fi1m score: 70** · Critics 71 from 15 reviews *In a sentence:* Rooney Mara has never looked so ill and Catherine Zeta-Jones has never worn glasses so meaningfully > Soderbergh’s pharmaceutical thriller is a fine, sickly portrait of depression for an hour and a well-oiled potboiler after that. The machinery is cleanly built and Rooney Mara is remarkable, but the film ends up caring less about pills than it began by suggesting. ## Synopsis Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) has waited out her husband’s prison sentence. Martin (Channing Tatum) went away for insider trading; when he comes home, the New York life they had is gone, and so, it seems, is she. She stops eating, stops sleeping, and one morning drives her car into the wall of a car park. The psychiatrist who sees her afterwards, Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), takes her on, tries one drug and then another, and on the advice of her former doctor, Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones), puts her on a new antidepressant called Ablixa. It helps. It also makes her sleepwalk. Vinessa Shaw plays Banks’s wife, and Ann Dowd is Martin’s mother. ## Review Steven Soderbergh announced *Side Effects* as his last film for cinemas, then shot and cut it himself. It was not his last film, but it has the feel of a man clearing his desk: a brisk 106 minutes from a script by Scott Z. Burns, who wrote [*Contagion*](https://film.one/film/contagion) for him, about a depressed young woman, her psychiatrist and the pill that comes between them. It is good. For an hour it is better than good, and the rest of this review is about the difference. The first shot drifts through a window into a flat and finds blood on the floor; a caption then takes us back three months. Rooney Mara plays Emily Taylor as a woman who has run out of energy for her own face. She stands at a party holding a drink she is not drinking, and when she puts her foot down in the car park she does not look frightened, only tired. Soderbergh, behind his own camera, gives New York the light of a hospital corridor, greenish and flat and a little dim at noon, with the focus so shallow that anyone not speaking blurs into the wall. We did not enjoy that hour and we mean that as praise: Mara’s blank face under that light got at us in a way thrillers seldom bother to. Jude Law’s Jonathan Banks is a decent, slightly vain doctor with a full list, a wife (Vinessa Shaw) worried about money, and a fee from a drug company for putting his patients on a trial. Law plays him as a man who believes he is one of the good ones and has never had cause to check. Howard Cummings gives him an office of pale wood and glass where nothing bad could happen. Susan Lyall puts Emily in grey knitwear a size too big and Catherine Zeta-Jones’s Dr Siebert in black, hair pulled back, glasses she takes off to make a point. Thomas Newman’s score is a low electronic hum, kept so quiet you notice it mostly when it stops. Then, at the close of the first act, something happens in the Taylors’ flat that we will not describe, and the film changes what it is about. Until then it has been a film about a sick woman, her medication and the people who profit from it. Afterwards it is about who did what to whom, and the medication becomes a device. Burns builds the switch well: the reversals arrive on schedule, each set up in plain sight, and Soderbergh the editor never holds a shot a beat too long to warn us a clue is passing. As a machine it is close to faultless. As a follow-through on that first hour it is a let-down, because the questions about pills are dropped. The performances hold up better than the plot does. Mara has to play more than one version of Emily and makes each one true while it is on screen, which is the reason the last stretch works at all. Law frays well: the tie goes, the beard comes in, the voice rises. Zeta-Jones has less to do than her billing suggests and does it with a straight face the script does not always earn. Channing Tatum is quietly good in a part that gives him little to push against. We laughed once, late on, at a line we are fairly sure was not written as a joke. Soderbergh has made this sort of film before and made it better. *Contagion* (2011), also written by Burns, followed a disease through the institutions meant to stop it and never once cut to a twist. Most of the reviews so far reach for Hitchcock, and it is fair as far as it goes: the cool surfaces, the compromised professional, the wife who begins to wonder. But Hitchcock did not open with an hour of honest misery and then ask us to reread it as a clue. It runs 106 minutes and carries a 15, and it wastes none of them. See it for Mara, and for a director in full control of a film slightly smaller than the one he began. Watch it with someone who knows nothing about it, and mind what you say when the lights come up. *Fi1m score 70, published 9 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like Side Effects, and the praise clusters in two places: Rooney Mara’s lead performance, which several reviews call the glue holding the puzzle together, and Steven Soderbergh’s control as director, cinematographer and editor. Jude Law’s psychiatrist is singled out nearly as often. Reviewers agree on the shape of the film: it opens as a sober drama about depression and prescription drugs, then turns into a twisting, Hitchcockian potboiler, and most find that turn thrilling rather than cheap. The reservations cluster on the third act. Even admiring reviews concede the plotting grows pulpy, and the mixed notices say the late twists undo whatever the film has to say about the pharmaceutical industry. The spread is fairly wide for a well-liked film. The Hollywood Reporter finds the twists too many to convince, The Skinny calls it ludicrous and its critique unlanded, and IndieWire detects fatigue in the execution. Nobody disputes the craft. ## Straight answers **Is Side Effects worth watching?** *Side Effects* is worth watching for anyone who likes a cool, tightly built thriller, and we scored it 70. The first hour is a fine, sickly portrait of depression carried by Rooney Mara, after which it turns into a well-oiled potboiler and stops caring about the pills. See it for Mara, and with someone who knows nothing about it. **How long is Side Effects, and what is it rated?** *Side Effects* runs 1h 46m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a thriller and crime film. **Where can I watch Side Effects in the US?** *Side Effects* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Tubi and The Roku Channel in the US, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Side Effects, and is it suitable for children?** *Side Effects* carries a UK 15 certificate and is a thriller about depression, medication and a killing, not a gory or jump-scare film. The violence is brief but the subject matter is adult throughout: a suicide attempt, sleepwalking, a bloodied floor. We would not put it in front of children, and it suits older teenagers only. **How does Side Effects compare to Contagion?** *Side Effects* and [*Contagion*](https://film.one/film/contagion) share a director in Steven Soderbergh and a writer in Scott Z. Burns, but *Contagion* is the better film. It follows a virus through the institutions meant to stop it and never cuts to a twist, and it is more frightening for that. *Side Effects* opens with an hour of honest misery, then asks us to reread it as a clue; choose it if you want the puzzle rather than the plague. **What should I watch after Side Effects?** After *Side Effects*, try [*Contagion*](https://film.one/film/contagion) (2011, Fi1m 78): Soderbergh and Burns follow a virus through the institutions; no twists, and more frightening for it. Then [*Spellbound*](https://film.one/film/spellbound) (1945, Fi1m 66): Hitchcock’s psychiatrist falls for a patient; the dream sequence was designed by Salvador Dalí; and [*Gone Girl*](https://film.one/film/gone-girl) (2014, Fi1m 84): Fincher’s marriage thriller also changes shape halfway through and keeps its nerve. ### Reviews we read (27) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): Soderbergh bids farewell to cinema in style with a gripping psychological thriller about big pharma and mental health. It is a noirish satire elevated by Rooney Mara's compelling lead performance and Soderbergh's elegant, eerie visuals. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/mar/07/side-effects-review) - **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (85/100, inferred): If this is Soderbergh's final film he goes out on a high. It starts as sober psychological drama and ferments into a queasy, thrilling whodunit that smartly explores prescription-drug culture and moral murk. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/9915248/Side-Effects-review.html) - **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (B+): The critic calls it a vastly entertaining thriller that isn't the message movie it initially appears to be, focusing instead on high-level gamesmanship and duplicity, with Rooney Mara superb as the puzzle's glue. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/side-effects-1798175733) - **Financial Times**, Nigel Andrews (80/100, inferred): Soderbergh’s mischievously enthralling thriller mixes paranoia and pharmaceuticals around Rooney Mara's unstable Emily. It is a consummate Hitchcockian trip that loves paranoia while probing mental misfortune and the demon Pharma. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/15f91506-8710-11e2-bde6-00144feabdc0) - **Time Out**, Ben Walters (4/5): The review calls it a pacy, sleight-of-hand thriller that works as fun genre entertainment with sly digs at consumerism. It highlights strong performances, technical flair and twists while noting it serves as a fitting swansong for the director. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/side-effects) - **Vulture**, David Edelstein (80/100, inferred): The critic praises it as a smooth, shapely suspense picture where Soderbergh is on top of his material, cleverly mixing conventions in a paranoid yet bouncy noir-tinged thriller. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2013/02/movie-review-edelstein-side-effects-steven-soderbergh.html) - **The Times**, Kate Muir (75/100, inferred): Jude Law oozes obsession and ambiguity as a psychiatrist in Soderbergh's twisting, drug-addled drama. The plot wrongfoots the viewer repeatedly in a story that blends Big Pharma critique with psychological chess. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/side-effects-ls2sjlhv9zq) - **Radio Times**, Stella Papamichael (3/5): The critic describes an intelligently crafted, briskly paced and suspenseful thriller that highlights flaws in psychiatry, but notes it loses impact with a crude payoff in the third act. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-wxauy5/side-effects/) - **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (60/100, inferred): The critic notes the film's stylish psychopharmacology thriller elements and clever twists but finds it ultimately square and lacking the courage of its aesthetic convictions in its later stages. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/side-effects/) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (40/100, inferred): The review suggests Soderbergh is ready for a break, portraying the film as showing signs of fatigue in its execution despite its thriller elements. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-steven-soderberghs-side-effects-shows-hes-ready-for-a-break-41386/) - **Empire**, Ian Freer: The critic calls it a grown-up thrill ride that is suspenseful, whip-smart and full of surprises, mutating from a portrait of depression into a gripping Hitchcockian potboiler with strong performances, especially from Jude Law. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/side-effects-review/) - **Evening Standard**: The critic praises it as a highly watchable Hitchcockian thriller made with persuasive clarity and directness, highlighting Steven Soderbergh's control as director, cinematographer and editor, along with strong turns from Jude Law and Rooney Mara. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/side-effects-film-review-8526102.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan: The critic praises Soderbergh for bringing intelligence and verve to this straight-ahead twisty adult thriller with a complex plot and cinematic skill that renders implausibility irrelevant. The top-notch cast and production values are highlighted. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2013-feb-07-la-et-mn-side-effects-20130208-story.html) - **Screen Daily**: The review finds the film increasingly ludicrous yet nasty fun, ultimately too clever for its own good, but appreciates Soderbergh and the cast's cool confidence if the absurdity is accepted on its own terms. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/side-effects/5050726.article) - **Sight and Sound**, Trevor Johnston: The critic finds the thriller too slippery and problematic due to excessive narrative twists and contrivances that fail to sustain credibility or purpose. Technical craft, direction and some performances are praised but the overall result is seen as not the right note for Soderbergh's supposed retirement. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-side-effects) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy: The critic finds it a lushly made but unconvincing thriller about the dangers of prescription drugs, undermined by too many plot-twist sucker-punches that elicit an 'Oh, come on' reaction. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/side-effects-film-review-417564/) - **The New Yorker**, David Denby: The critic calls the film an intelligent Soderbergh experiment in form that shifts from downbeat drama to sober Hitchcockian thriller. The precise direction and the way the thriller plot is worked out are noted, though it lacks joy in filmmaking. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/02/11/the-last-picture-show) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott: The critic finds the film a tight, twisty pharma-caper and clever old-fashioned noir potboiler that ultimately concerns lust, jealousy and greed more than medicine. Soderbergh's honesty and skill are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/movies/steven-soderberghs-caper-film-side-effects.html) - **Variety**, Justin Chang: The critic describes an elegantly coiled puzzler that begins as satire of the pill-popping society and morphs into something different, an absorbing and cunningly unpredictable entertainment. The rapid-fire twists and Soderbergh's assured direction are noted. [Read](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/side-effects-2-1117949073/) - **Eye for Film**, Anne-Katrin Titze (80/100, inferred): Soderbergh crafts a captivating and scrupulously deceiving prescription drug drama that blurs boundaries between worlds and minds. The critic singles out the authentic details and the reactions of supporting female characters to the protagonist's breakdowns for particular praise. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/side-effects-2013-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze) - **The Wrap** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film terrific and entertaining, recommending viewers avoid spoilers to fully enjoy its surprises. They single out the twisty script and Soderbergh's direction for effectively shifting expectations and delivering surprises without cheating the audience. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/side-effects-review-maximum-potency-see-movie-first-and-read-reviews-later-76721/) - **/Film**, Russ Fischer (7.5/10): Soderbergh delivers a smart but pessimistic thriller with a winding narrative that keeps predictability at bay and demonstrates razor-sharp precision in storytelling. The critic singles out Rooney Mara and Jude Law's performances, especially Mara's ability to convincingly portray multiple facets of her character's psychoses. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/524845/side-effects-review-steven-soderbergh-diagnoses-paranoid-fears-in-his-final-theatrical-outing/) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (C-): The critic finds the first half insightful on psychiatric drugs and depression but criticizes the second half for devolving into contrived thriller twists that undermine the earlier themes. Praises Soderbergh's bleary-eyed depiction of emotional numbness. [Read](https://collider.com/side-effects-review/) - **The Skinny**, Jamie Dunn (★★): A ludicrous thriller disguised as a sociopolitical statement on the pharmaceutical industry that Soderbergh seems embarrassed by. Its plotting and tone are schizophrenic and it fails to land its critique. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/side-effects) - **Den of Geek**, James Peaty (4 out of 5): Soderbergh delivers a taut, engaging medical thriller with strong performances from Mara and Law that recalls Hitchcock and Polanski. The final act stumbles into pulpy territory but overall it is gripping and entertaining. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/side-effects-review/) - **Digital Spy**, Emma Dibdin (4): A taut, disciplined paranoid thriller that keeps the audience guessing with justified paranoia and strong turns from Law and Mara. It ultimately has less to say than it initially promises. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a463374/side-effects-review-rooney-mara-goes-off-the-rails-in-psychodrama/) - **Paste**, Scott Wold (8.5): Soderbergh enriches the psychological thriller genre with a masterfully spare effort that begins as a heart-wrenching portrait of depression before delivering shocking twists. Singles out Rooney Mara's fantastic performance and the director's fine craftsmanship. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/side-effects) ## Details - **Director:** Steven Soderbergh - **Director:** Steven Soderbergh - **Screenplay:** Scott Z. Burns - **Cinematography:** Steven Soderbergh - **Editor:** Steven Soderbergh - **Music:** Thomas Newman - **Production design:** Howard Cummings - **Costume design:** Susan Lyall - **Producer:** Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Gregory Jacobs, Scott Z. Burns - **Cast:** Rooney Mara as Emily Taylor; Jude Law as Jonathan Banks; Catherine Zeta-Jones as Dr. Victoria Siebert; Channing Tatum as Martin Taylor; Vinessa Shaw as Dierdre Banks; Ann Dowd as Mrs. Taylor; Polly Draper as Eileen Spicer; David Costabile as Carl - **Runtime:** 1h 46m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 8 February 2013 - **Genres:** Thriller, Crime, Drama - **Budget:** $30 million - **Box office:** $63 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhB5PdcB2OI ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming - Tubi: free, hd - The Roku Channel: free, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-10.* Also available in: AT, AU, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, FI, FR, GB, IE, IL, IT, MX, NO, NZ, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Contagion* (2011), Fi1m 78: Soderbergh and Burns follow a virus through the institutions; no twists, and more frightening for it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/contagion.md) - *Spellbound* (1945), Fi1m 66: Hitchcock’s psychiatrist falls for a patient; the dream sequence was designed by Salvador Dalí. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/spellbound.md) - *Les Diaboliques* (1955): Clouzot’s French schoolhouse murder plot, still the template for every twist that followed. - *Gone Girl* (2014), Fi1m 84: Fincher’s marriage thriller also changes shape halfway through and keeps its nerve. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gone-girl.md) - *The Handmaiden* (2016), Fi1m 85: Park Chan-wook’s con told three times over, each telling correcting the last. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-handmaiden.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. 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